The Modes of Foregiveness
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing." Luke 23:34
During the Great Lenten Season, we, as Orthodox Christians, must
think of fasting, prayer, charity and FORGIVENESS.
Even before the resurrection took place, this prayer from the cross is
evidence that Jesus is someone much greater than a mere human being. In
this moment of excruciating pain, shame, and humiliation, by the world's
standards completely defeated, Jesus Christ was able to think not of
Himself, but of others. How can we not but respect, honor, admire, and
venerate one with such an ability to forgive all those who brought Him
to this condition? To overcome instinctive human hatred with compassion,
the spite one would normally fell with a feeling of pity for his
persecutors, the contempt for human weakness with a respect for the
basic ability to recognize their mistakes and become transformed through
a process of remorse and contrition to a new relationship with God.
The wonderful news is that Christ's disciples are also able to become
like Him. It happens. Not often, but on occasion.
The poet Evgeny Yevtushenko tells a story of his mother who came from
Siberia to Moscow in 1944. She and others wanted to be there to witness
twenty thousand German prisoners being taken through the streets as
evidence of the victory of the allied forces over their enemies who had
invaded their land, killed more than twenty million of their people, and
wreaked havoc on all living things.
At first there were the officers, proudly striding along in the hated
black boots as though they were victorious, haughty and disrespectful to
these "UNTERMENSCH" - inferiors, who held them captive.
"They smell of perfume!" the crowds shouted in derision. But
behind them in the ranks limped the wounded, starving, ragged and
pitiful common foot soldiers. The crowd then grew silent and merely
stared. With a motherly instinct, one woman took a slice of bread from
her pocket and stretched it out to a famished young private. Others
followed her lead, finding something to offer to their former
oppressors. "They are just people," they whispered. People,
like themselves, caught up in a situation they never requested nor
probably ever wanted. A war others willed that changed the lives of
ordinary people. Here is the understanding that precedes forgiveness.
Kindness, which means by definition "KIN-LINE" - like my own
family. Like us. Like God's children, Adam's offspring, sisters and
brothers in harmony with all God's creation.
Tell me, where else can one find an equal to Jesus Christ in offering
the world a reconciliation with God and each other? What great religious
figure - Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Moses - has made the people of the
earth so aware of their separation, and alert to the awareness of the
beauty in universal harmony? Who among the later scientists, statesmen
and women, and world leaders can match the Master of two millennia past,
in providing an example or teaching to equal His concern for human life
potential?
Now, forgive us, Lord. God and Savior, for we are still lacking of
the grace that allows us to match Your compassion and love for all
humanity.
